What we learned as Rockies’ late homer leads to deflating loss originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO — When you’re struggling to get going offensively, there’s really nothing better than a visit from the Road Rockies. But even that can’t get the Giants going right now.
The Rockies were giving up an average of more than eight runs per game over the last three weeks and came to Oracle Park with the worst road record in the National League, but they held the Giants to one big swing of the bat and won 5- 2, snapping an 11-game losing streak to their division rival. The Giants failed to reach the three-run mark for the seventh time in the last 11 games.
Not coincidentally, they’ve lost eight of them.
The Giants entered the night averaging just three runs per game over their last 13, and they didn’t look much more dangerous against the last-place Rockies. Austin Gomber cruised through the first five innings — even getting three pop-ups in one inning — before the Giants finally rattled him in the sixth.
After a Casey Schmitt single, Brandon Crawford yanked an elevated fastball over the arcade in right field. That matched a Ryan McMahon homer from the first inning and tied things up.
It didn’t take long for the Rockies to jump back on top, and they did it by stunning a couple of Colorado natives. Taylor Rogers put two on in the seventh and Tyler Rogers gave up a three-run homer.
Bragging Rights
Crawford’s blast was his fifth of the season and 144th as a Giant, and it moved him past good friend/boss Buster Posey on the franchise’s career RBI list. Crawford now has 731, which ranks sixth in the Giants’ San Francisco era.
Next up for Crawford is Matt Williams at 732, and then he’ll have some work to do. Orlando Cepeda ranks fourth in the San Francisco era and 10th all-time at 767. The top three — Willie Mays, Barry Bonds and Willie McCovey — are light years ahead of everyone else who has played for the organization since the move to California .
Crawford should soon run Posey down in a few more categories. The run was his 659th, putting him four behind Posey. He needs four doubles and 12 walks to catch the team owner in those categories. He also needs just two extra-base hits to catch Brandon Belt for fourth in San Francisco Giants history, which certainly won’t come up in the group chat.
Short Strip
The Giants made a mistake by pulling Ross Stripling after just 24 pitches on Sunday and planned to give him a much longer leash on Friday, but he ended up going just 3 2/3, in part because of performance.
After a single by former Giant Kris Bryant, Stripling gave up a two-run homer to McMahon in the first. He settled in from there, getting out of a second-inning jam with a double play, but he was pulled with two outs in the fourth after throwing his 65th pitch.
The inconsistent role has kept Stripling from truly getting built up as a starter, and the All-Star break won’t help. Stripling likely won’t make his next appearance for at least a week.
Twin Trouble
Taylor Rogers had allowed just two earned runs over his last 29 appearances. Tyler Rogers hadn’t allowed a homer since April 29, and that was the Mexico City game that barely resembled baseball at times. Everything changed with one swing in the seventh.
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Tyler Rogers usually has a huge edge over hitters who are seeing his unique delivery for the first time, but rookie shortstop Ezequiel Tovar jumped on a slider that didn’t break and picked up his ninth homer of the year.
The homer was just the third off Tyler this year. It was Taylor’s first multi-run appearance since April 12, the night he dumped his glove in a dugout trash can and turned his season around.
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